Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that he’d like to meet with the 14-year-old Texas student who was suspended and handcuffed for bringing to school a homemade clock that was suspected of being a bomb.
Zuckerberg hailed Ahmed Mohamed’s work, and asked him to come to Facebook.
“Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed. Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you. Keep building,” Zuckerberg wrote in a post.
Mohamed has received and outpouring of support online Wednesday, a day after he was suspended from MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas for bringing his homemade clock to school.
The White House said the student’s “teachers have failed him,” and President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other lawmakers have offered support to the student. The Twitter hashtag #IStandWithAhmed was also gaining traction.
Many suspected the student’s Muslim background contributed to the entire incident. But law enforcement said the reaction would have been the same under different circumstances.
Law enforcement reportedly questioned the student for hours, but ultimately declined to press any charges.